Suspicious of lymphoma

[Jenniferr1987]

Symptoms:
Enlarged lymph node with an empty appearance/ "unusual architecture"- painless and just above the collarbone.
Neck pain, Lower back pain, Leg weakness- nonspecific patches of inflammation, reversal of normal lordosis (neck), degenerative disc disease.
Extreme Fatigue (12 hours of sleep/day- still tired)
Weight loss, followed by bloating/swollen stomach
Heterogeneous echotexture of the thyroid gland- subclinical hypothyroidism (treated naturopathically)
Brief periods of feeling flushed, overheated, sweaty- every day.
Age 22, Female

*Waiting for an xray

[Jenniferr1987]

Thanks so much for your feedback.  You definitely settled my stomach.
I do notice my symptoms getting worse under stress, and I definitely don't sweat enough to soak my clothes.  An immune-related problem would be a better explanation, especially when my psoriasis goes out of control when I'm even slightly strained.  I've had some sketchy ultrasound technicians and the whole experience left me a bit shaken.  For instance:

During my last ultrasound (when they found the lymph node), the technician stopped in her tracks, had this awwwful look on her face and started asking me questions like: do you have a fever? are you sick? do you have pain? etc etc etc.  Then she called in two doctors and they had this discussion......i'm lying there and listening to all of this medical jargon that essentially came down to: "What iiiiis that?" and "Hrm, better keep an eye on it"........SO, i felt completely dehumanized.......a pretty cruel ultrasound, to say the least.  I wonder where the paranoia came from...

Anyway, thanks again!

[Ken_PA]

oh, and about the empty putative node: no doctor has seen everything - if one said it's possible I'd believe that.

Or how about the ol' sebacious cyst or lipoma, with some rare variation?

You've probably read that there are so many false positives in breast cancer that mammograms are no longer so zealously recommended.

Heterogeneous echotexture of the thyroid gland? Wouldn't that be something like >90% benign? The odds are all on your side.

[Ken_PA]

well, you're very sharp and you know that the chances of something not-so-bad are greater than the chances of something bad.

Why did I ask about the other? I just got the general sense that your symptoms are viral or immune related, but not cancer. Especially if you've been overstressed lately.

AFAIK, the weight-loss etc occurs in advanced disease, and you'd know if you had advanced disease - which you don't :)  How about sweating? Night sweats mean you get so drenched you have to change your clothes.

I hope you get a good x-ray tech that'll give you some info right then. It always is worth the try to ask everybody about everything.

Regardless, before long you're likely to find that it is something rare, but not so bad, and you'll be on top of the world. Good luck :)

[Jenniferr1987]

also, i'm told that there's no such thing as an empty lymph node and my doctor specifically told me that it was one.....so this concerns me as well.

[Jenniferr1987]

You're right. I was more or less hoping for a "there's no way" response to ease my stress, but there's not much to say without the xray results.

I had a thyroid biopsy, which came out negative for cancer, and it's possible that it's just an empty calcified cyst or a nodule that migrated way down from the thyroid gland.....

Lupus runs in my family
I also have moderate psoriasis (but no one else in my family tree has it, and i don't even have the genetic markers for it).
Why do you ask?  

I'm a bit worried 1. because my family has a huge history of cancer....  throat, lung, pancreatic, prostate, brain cancer... all contracted at various ages, but (mostly) 2. because my appointment is in two days and the anticipation is building.

[Ken_PA]

hi, as you probably are aware, none of that is or can be conclusive

the only way is biopsy, and a biopsy won't be done unless there is sufficient reason

I'd guess the x-ray is looking for calcium

do you have any autoimmune disease in your family?